The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2014, and October 31, 2015, are automatically nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on October 23, 2015, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Thirteen-year-old Nick Kirov has a sort of wizard’s Bar Mitzvah in this, the third outing in the Magickeepers series. His desperate search for a fabled magical chalice that will save the life of his father, bespelled during an attack by the evil Shadowkeepers, takes the young visionary from the (sadly defunct) Liberace Museum’s warehouse in his hometown Las Vegas to Stratford-on-Avon, then to a climactic showdown in a Russian ice cavern with the evil Rasputin. As in past episodes, the parade of historical figures continues in visions and flashbacks, because in its long history the life-giving chalice passed through the hands of such luminaries as Shakespeare, Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Howard Hughes and Amelia Earhart. Nick’s relentlessly entrepreneurial uncle Crazy Sergei puts in occasional appearances for comic relief, as well. By the end, Nick has (seemingly) vanquished Rasputin, saved his father, buried the dangerously intoxicating chalice in a deep hole and, and keeping with an unusually specific Prophecy, been elevated to Prince of the Magickeepers. “You,” his uncle Theo informs him, “became a man.” After its strong start in The Eternal Hourglass (2009), this series has been treading water, but fans may still be willing to take a dip. (Fantasy. 11-13)

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